The Puppeteer
by htffan951
Summary: An unknown figure now stalks the streets of a post war Warfang. It's purpose will soon draw Cynder into a dark conspiracy that will forever change her life, but will it be for better or for worst? One thing is for sure though, and that is some how a red dragon by the name of Spyro is connected to it all. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Well it took some time, but I finally got the first chapter finished. I do hope that you all enjoy this new story.**

It was a calm and peaceful morning in Warfang, as the sun gently rose over the horizon. As the new dawn came, Dragons and moles of all ages began to awaken from there slumber, however there was one, that would rather stay asleep.

In home, not too far from the center of Warfang, and elderly green dragon, by the name of Terrador, walked calmly through his home. After serving several years in the Warfang's military he had grown accustomed to waking at earlier times, and even though he has aged greatly since he first joined, he still found it strange to hear that some people sleep it, by the break of dawn.

As he wondered through his home, he searched for a particular dragon who, like many other preferred to sleep in at this time, this someone being of course his daughter. With a great sigh, Terrador gave up on his search, and came to terms that she was still asleep, despite his constant attempts to get her to wake up earlier. Quietly, Terrador walked up the stairs to the second floor, and with his snout, slowly pushed the door aside. Just as he figured, he found a black dragoness, with a maroon underbelly, still fast asleep in bed.

"Cynder wake up!" Terrador shouted, no longer trying to be quite.

The young dragoness's eyes shot wide open, and she quickly tumbled out of bed and onto the floor, surprised by the sudden voice that rung in her ear holes. She then quickly scrambled to her feet, and stood at attention as her father approached her.

Terrador stopped not too far from her, and peered down at her, with an almost menacing look in his eyes. As a high ranking officer in the military, Terrador was used to seeing other dragons or moles shake slightly in fear, or look away, trying to ignore the look he gave them, but Cynder on the other hand had grown used to the look, and only stared her father in the eyes waiting for him to say or do something.

The two stood still, their eyes beginning to still slightly from the lack of blinking. Just when Cynder though that they would be here all morning, Terrador broke eye contact with her, as he blinked first.

Cynder grinned and celebrate a little, as Terrador grunted softly to himself, slightly angered for losing the small competition they were having.

"Looks like you win again," said Terrador reluctantly.

"Yea, you know what that means," Cynder said excitedly.

Terrador quickly recalled the small agreement they made a while back, were whoever won a small contest early in the morning, the winner would get to pick and choose were ever they wanted to eat breakfast, be it at home or at some restaurant.

"Alright, where are we going, but make it close by, you have school in a few hours,"

Cynder didn't answer, and instead just walked past her father, and out the door. Turning around, Terrador followed her. Cynder walked through Warfang, her head held high with delight from her recent victory, while Terrador couldn't help but smile at this. As they walked, the talked about some random things that they saw along the way to the place that Cynder wished to dine.

They suddenly cut their conversation short and stopped where they were, as two dragon, both dressed in ancestral attire, which is comprised of a white cloak that covered their entire body and neck, along with a mask of the same color which covered there face. As by law, Terrador and Cynder both stepped away from them as they turned the corner towards them, and once they were out of site, they continued their conversation and began to walk once more.

They soon found themselves at a small building that sold a wide range of different kinds of meat. Cynder licked her lips as she entered, hardly being able to wait to taste the delectable food that lay before her.

It wasn't long before they ordered there meals, and sat down before digging in. Before they got to comfortable however, Terrador heard his name being called. Looking up, he saw a good friend of his, another elderly dragon by the name of Ignitus along with his own daughter, a pink dragoness by the name of Ember, walking towards them.

"Ignitus my good friend, what brings you down here with us commoners?"

"Well despite the more fabulous things that comes with nobility," Ignitus said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "I like to think that it's always nice to walk among you so called "commoners" every once in a while,"

"Understandable and I see that you brought along young Ember with you," pointed out Terrador.

"Of course, I shouldn't be the only one who gets to dine on such a fine place alone,"

Terrador chuckled to himself by this comment, before suddenly growing a more serious look on his face. "Im actually quite glad that we ran into each other here, there are some important matters I would like to discuss with you quickly,"

Ignitus nodded before looking towards Ember. "Ember why don't you and Cynder go sit over there, Terrador and I need to speak in peace,"

Ember nodded, before walking over to a table a few feet away, and Cynder soon joined her.

Much like their fathers, Cynder and Ember have become good friends, so they didn't mind all that much that they were forced to sit else were.

"So what do you think there talking about?" asked Cynder.

"Oh my best guess would be that it's about this so called upending war," Ember said as she rolled her eyes. "I swear father could hardly stop talking about it the other day. But when mother died during the last war, I guess I can see why he has turned to me to talk about such matters,"

"Yea, I'm sure your life is so hard isn't it, Ms. I can buy whatever I want," said Cynder sarcastically.

The two then broke out into laughter before continuing to eat there meal. Even after they finish eating the two sat at their table, continuing to talk, before Terrador walked up to them.

"Cynder its time for you two head off to school. Ignitus and I however have more to talk about, so you two will be walking one your own today,"

"Yea sure thing dad, come on Ember," motioned Cynder as she began to leave the table.

The two walked to the school that they both attended without running into any distractions or any more of the dragons dressed in white, and soon found themselves walking down the hallways. As the two dragonesses talked about anything the peaked there interest at that point in time, they heard a familiar voice call out Cynder's name behind them, and in respond Cynder gave a small grunt of annoyance.

Turning around she saw an ice dragon, about their age came strolling up to them, his light blue scales shining brightly, and his black underbelly despite being such a dark color, seemed to gleam just as much. Most dragonesses would find his dragon to be a charmer, and an all-around lovely guy to be around, most dragonesses that is. As for Cynder, she just saw him as a throne in her side.

"What do you want now, Emory," said Cynder, in a distasteful, nearly venomous tone in her once cheerful voice.

"Now, now Cynder my love, there is no need to be so angry with me, I merely wish to show you that I do care for you quite dearly," Emory said as he held out a rose to her.

"How many times must I tell you, Emory I don't share the same feelings for you," said Cynder before lighting the rose a blaze with her fire breath.

Emory quickly dropped the flower, and stomped out the flames before it light the floor on fire. Once finished he looked back up at Cynder, with his sparkling blue eyes that Cynder had grown to hate with a passion. "You may turn me away now, my dearest, but one day you will see things my way, and fall ever so gently into my paws," Emory said in a sweet and tender voice. "But sadly now is not that time, as class is about to begin. So if you two fine ladies will excuse me," Emory gave a small bow, before walking off past them to his class.

Cynder waved goodbye to Ember as she followed Emory, wishing that they shared a different class room. To make matters worse, her first class of that day was her least favorite, History class.

Not that she hated the history of the dragon race, it was however that the teacher of the class, a yellow dragon by the name of Volteer, had a large tendency of speaking quickly to the point where it was hard to understand him, which did not bode well for Cynder.

Upon entering her class she watched Emory quickly sit down, and turning to her, patting the ground next to him, signaling for her to sit next to him.

Rolling her eyes Cynder sat in-between two of her other class mates, trying her best to ignore his stares. As time went on, Cynder couldn't help but glance every once and a while at the blue dragon as she waited for Volteer to walk in. Emory noticed each time she looked in his direction, and grinned every time she did, only for it to disappear the next second when she looked away.

In hopes of ignoring her admirer, Cynder began to stare at the black board in front of the class, before spacing out. She wasn't sure how long she spent day dreaming, but it wasn't until she heard her name being called out when she regained focus.

Looking around for the source that called her name, she saw Volteer standing in front of the room, with a angered look on his face, not liking the fact that one of his students were ignoring his small speech.

Once he knew he had her attention, he continued talking "Now before we get into those topics for today, as some of you might have noticed," Volteer said before pausing casting an accusing look at Cynder before continuing, "there is a new student among us. Now if you wouldn't mind please stand and tell us all your name,"

As instructed Cynder watched as a red dragon stood up. Cynder noticed that he had a annoyed look upon his face, as if he didn't want to be where he was now, but what interested her the most, was the necklace that hung around his neck, that held a black gem resting upon his golden underbelly.

With a sigh and with a voice that made every one aware that he hated being there, he said "Hello everyone, my name is Spyro,"

**So what do you guys think of this story so far? Why do you guys think Spyro is red and not purple, and what is so important about those dragons in white attire? All of these and more will be answered in the future.**

**Now I do have something important to say. Im going to need some help here with this chapter, because for some reason, and it might be because of school, I am having troubles coming up with ideas for just what should be going on in these beginning chapters. Now for the most part I know what im doing for the most part for the middle and the end, but its this beginning that im struggling with a lot, so if some one would wish to help that would be great. I dont need anyone to beta read this story if they dont want to, I just need some one to bounce ideas off of. Now with that said, I hope you all have a wonderful day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well I hope you all enjoyed the previous chapter, and I hope that you all enjoy this one just as much.**

After introductions were finished, Volteer went back to teaching his class, and to Cynder's sorrow, the class was a boring and dull as it usually was. The topic he was teaching was of nothing special, as it was about the history on how the Relconem religion affected the world in the days of old and how it became what it was today. Wars were fought and cities were demolished, all in the name of the so called 'ancestors'.

Cynder sighed, as not only did she not believe that the ancestors excited but she also thought that such meaningless talk of them was merely a waste of time and effort. Boredom started to affect her focus, as Cynder's eye lids started to grow heavier and heavier by the second, until they began to droop. Just has her eyes shut, she quickly reopened them, trying her best not to fall asleep again in class, less she face the wrath of her father for the fourth time that week for sleeping in class.

But she couldn't help herself when it came to such a boring class such as the one she was in. Her eyes began to droop once more, her body gladly excepting the clutches of sleep, as its warm and comfortable hands took hold of her, as she closed her eyes.

"Mr. Spyro!" shouted Volteer, awakening Cynder with a shock, all former tiredness disappearing from her body. She looked over to were the red dragon sat, and watch him let out a large yawn. She presumed that he feel asleep in class. _'At least I wasn't the only one'_ she thought.

"Since you are a new student here, I shall let you off with a warning, but if I catch you asleep once more in my class, I will sent you to the principal's office. Do I make myself clear?"

Cynder saw Spyro's jaw moving, guessing that he mumbled something terrable, as she then noticed the look of both discomfort and a slight bit of fear in the two dragons that sat next to him.  
>"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" shouted Volteer once again his patience growing thin. Whatever Spyro said, Volteer didn't hear it.<p>

"Understood," said the red dragon, in a mildly annoyed tone.

Satisfied enough, Volteer turned to face the bored and continued his lecture. The rest of the class was the same, boring as ever in Cynder's eyes. When class finished she quickly made her way out of the room, but once she was past the doors and walked into the hallway, she noticed a dragon, only a little taller than herself, indicating that it was about her age, who was wearing the ancestral attire just sitting still against the wall. The dragon sat there for a few seconds before he or she stood up and began to walk away.

Cynder watched the mask wearing, white cloaked figure walk down the halls before it turned right down a different hallway. She was confused as to why a member of the Relconem religion would be walking in the school.

"Well hello darling," said Emory suddenly appearing behind Cynder, breaking her from her thoughts.

"What? Oh, hello Emory," said Cynder in a distasteful tone in her voice as she said his name.

"If you wouldn't be so kind, I wish to ask you to accompany me to Urlchen as my lovely date," Emory asked, trying to be as charming as possible when he did.

"No I don't want to be your date, just go away already,"

"Surely there must be something that would get you to go with me, just give me a chance at least,"

"For the last time no, go bother some other dragoness why don't you,"

"But you are the only one my heart desires for, without you I don't know what I would do,"

Just then, the two heard a small chuckle coming from behind Emory. Just exiting the class room himself, came the new student continuing to snicker.

"What is so funny?" Emory ask the red dragon as he walked past them.

Spyro stopped walking as well as ceased his laughter with a joyful sigh. "Both of you are what's funny, especially you," he said as he pointed towards Emory. "You, who is balling your heart out only for your hopes to be smashed, it nearly brings me to tears it's so funny,"

"He kind of has a point Emory," said Cynder. "I keep telling you that I don't feel the same way about you, so what you're doing is wasting your time,"

"Oh I wasn't finished, your just as bad has him," said Spyro quickly before Cynder could say more. "The fact that you're being a cold hearted bitch is hysterical. The people here are just like how I imagined them to be,"

Emory didn't mind being insulted, but his blood began to boil when Spyro mentioned Cynder. He began to bare his teeth at the red dragon ready to fight, but Spyro didn't return the gesture, and instead ignored him all together.

"And what did you imagine?" asked Cynder, not liking the comment herself. If it wasn't for the fact that they were at school and could get into major trouble, she would gladly help Emory put Spyro in his place.

"Exactly like I described the both of you, pathetic and cold hearted, only thinking of yourself,"

"And who are you to say that?" Emory asked, his body nearly trembling with anger and hate for this new student. "What makes you so much better then all of us?"

"I'm not better then you," said Spyro taking both Cynder and Emory by surprise. "I just know that I'm not as bad as both of you. Now if you will excuse me, I must be off, I have wasted enough time here," said Spyro before turning to leave.

"Now wait just one moment," said Cynder trying to stop Spyro by stepping in front of him, but before she could, she felt the ground beneath her shake and shift ever so slightly, causing her to fall down.

'_What the hell was that?'_ Cynder thought as she watched the red dragon walk down the hallway, not even bothering to look back, before taking a right down a different hallway.

"Are you alright?" asked Emory as he tried helped her up.

"I'm fine!" Cynder snapped back at him as she pushed him away, still enraged by Spyro's words.

Slightly sadden by this, Emory focused back upon Spyro. "What a jerk. Next time I see him, I will show him who is the pathetic one around here," Emory said as he looked down the hallway Spyro walked down, imagining himself pouncing on the red dragon and defeating him in battle.

Cynder didn't want to hear any of what Emory had to say, and just wanted to be done with the day. "Don't you have class to go to?" she said before storming off to her next class.

As the school day went on, Cynder eventually found herself with in the cafeteria, along with several other classmates, or other dragons she haven't met before. As she sat down at a table, the first thing she noticed was that Spyro was also sitting at that table as well, staring off into space.

Just before Cynder could begin yelling at him for his comments earlier that day, another student at the table asked, "So what do you think Cynder?"

Cynder turned and faced the student who asked the question. "What do I think about what?" she asked not sure what they were talking about.

"Do you think the rumors are true that Malefor is going to attack Warfang again, and start another war?"

Several rumors about this have been popping up over the past month, and it freighted a lot of people. The first war nearly ended with Malefor succeeding in his conquest of the world. One of the few major cities left was Warfang. The people there managed to hold their ground for a few months, before Malefor sent all of his forces that he could spare at the time at them. The battle was great but in the end Warfang had won the battle, as well as killed half of Malefor's men that he sent. Then he just vanished, along with what was left of his army till now, nearly sixteen years later, as rumors started popping up about his forces being spotted far away.

Cynder herself feared for another war as she couldn't stand the thought of losing her father in it. Being the high ranking officer that he was, there was no doubt in her mind that he would fight. "I don't know, I hope they are not true, but I can't really say much else,"

The rest of the lunch period Cynder was in deep though, worried about her father. The thought of war coming once again was not something she wanted to think much about, so in hopes of thinking of something else she began to look around the room for her to focus on. As she did, she couldn't help but focus on the new student, Spyro. He was merely just sitting there, taking a few bites of food before peering off into space once more. She wasn't sure what it was but there was something that seemed off about him to her. Maybe it was the way he ate his food, or the way he walked but something about Spyro didn't seem right to her. She made a mental note in her head to keep an eye on him.

The rest of Cynder's school day went rather well. She didn't have any more classes with Spyro, and it all went by rather quickly, much to her own delight. At the end of the school day, Cynder waited by the front gates, for Ember so that they could hang out for a little while.

"Hey Ember," shouted Cynder as she waved her wing in the air, in hopes of getting the pink dragoness to notice her. She did and Ember quickly made her way over to her.

"Hey how is it going Cynder, school treating you well?"

"Oh you know the same as usual. Though today we got this new student, a red dragon who goes by the name of Spyro, who is just a complete scum bag,"

"Oh he is? I had Spyro in a few of my classes, but he stayed quiet the entire time. It's a shame to hear that is like that. Got to say though, he is rather handsome. I think I'm going to ask him to accompany me to Urlchen in a few weeks,"

"I'm telling you it's a bad idea; this guy thinks he is better than all of us,"

"Oh I doubt that he does, you are just bad at talking to guys. Wait till he meets me, and I will show you how a pro handles these things,"

"Whatever you say pro," Cynder said mockingly.

"Hey I know a thing or two more then you do, I mean you hardly talk to anyone other than me, and your father. You even ignore Emory half of the time. At least he is trying to get you to become friends with him,"

"I don't think so, all he wants is my body and nothing more, I'm sure of it. He is just too friendly towards me to want anything else,"

"Or maybe he is just a really nice guy and your just being rude towards him,"  
>"Please not you to, I already had this talk with Spyro, and I'm still rather ticked off by his choice of words about me," Cynder said, her body fuming with hate for this new student.<p>

"Alright I won't say a word more about it. In fact why don't we go get something to eat to take our minds off of school, what do you say?" Ember said, hoping to change the topic. "I know of this great restaurant near the market place that was some of the most delicious cakes and tea,"

"You just want to go shopping don't you?" Cynder asked as she raised a brow.

"Maybe, what if I do?" Ember said innocently. "I mean what would be so wrong with doing so after we get a bite to eat?"

Cynder just rolled her eyes and chuckled a little. "Alright let's go,"

Ember let out a small girlish squeal, before taking off towards the market place. Cynder laughed once more before following the pink dragoness.

**So what did you guys think of this chapter? I really do wish to hear your guys opinions on the matter, as I want to know if what Im doing I successful. I mean it would be a terrible shame if all of my hints have gone to waste. So please if you wouldn't mind, I would love to know your guys theories about this story as it develops, and it will help me in the long run.**


	3. Chapter 3

As agreed upon, Cynder followed Ember down the street towards the market district so they may dine on some food to which Ember said was delectable. True to Ember's word, they quickly found themselves in front of a place that cooked and served all kinds of different meats. They took their seats, ordered their food, and began to eat as it arrived. As they ate, they began to chat about the one thing that most girls there age talk about very often: boys.

Or at least that was what Ember wanted to talk about. Cynder, on the other hand, didn't really like partaking in such conversations, but Ember was not the kind of person who would not take no for an answer.

"Well how do you think about…" Ember persisted with a small smile, trying to discover the identity of Cynder's affections

"Nothing," interrupted Cynder, a very small smirk flitting across her lips.

"Then surely you must like…" She was cut off before she even began, with a stern 'Nope' from Cynder. This was starting to get annoying.

"Not even a lit…"

"Enough Ember, there isn't anyone out there that I like in that regard," The black dragoness snapped, finally at her end.

"Come on Cynder, how can you say such a thing? I mean there has to be someone you like, even just a little," Ember was trying to help her friend. After all, it wasn't healthy for a charming young dragoness like Cynder to shun all male company.

"And like I told you already, I don't have a crush on anyone," groaned Cynder in annoyance.

"Now normally I would believe you, but you keep on pushing everyone around you away, especially Emory, which leads me to believe that you are hiding something," says Ember with a concerned look in her eyes. Their playful conversation turned serious. No longer about childish crushes, the conversation now revolved around Cynder. "You do know that whatever is bothering you, you can tell me right?"

"I'm telling you, there is nothing wrong. Would you get off my back already?" Cydner said, clearly agitated by the question. Although, Ember noticed a hint of sadness in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared when Cynder changed the subject. "So how is life among the nobles treating you?"

Ember sighed, knowing full well that she wouldn't get much more out of the black dragoness in front of her.

"It's been fine I guess nothing to complain about. I got to say though; I don't know how my father does it." She explained, using her forepaw to scratch by her horn.

"Does what?" Cynder asked, glad to finally change the subject from boys.

"His job, speaking in front of large crowds and all that other political stuff that he does day to day. I'm just starting to scratch the surface of what I am supposed to do, and I can hardly stand all of work give to me from school, let alone the work I will have to do once I take his role!" Ember complained with an exasperated sigh, laying her jaw along the table.

"I thought you didn't want to follow in your father's footsteps?" Cynder asked curiously.

"At first, yea, but then he gave me this grand speech about how this political role has been in our family for generation and generations, and why I should continue it." Ember picked her head up, looking Cynder in the eyes. "The worst part is that it actually was extremely convincing. So, it seems like I am now going to be a politician once I'm out of school." Ember said with a miserable look in her face.

"You don't look too excited about it." Cynder stated.

"It's not that I'm not excited about it, it's just that I'm not looking forwards to all of the work that comes with it. I mean look at this," Ember said as she picked up the school bad that was sitting next to her, and poured its contents out. From what Cynder could guess about seven or eight large scrolls, each about as thick as her paw, were stuffed into the satchel. "Look at all of this stuff I have to read!" Ember exclaimed. "It's infuriating, especially since the majority of it is completely pointless!"

"Well to be fair, Ember, half of the things we learn in school is pointless." Cynder observed grimly. "It's just there to make us better at problem solving, and working quicker at our jobs that we will be doing once we graduate." Cynder said, helping Ember to pick of the scrolls and place them back into the pink dragoness's bag.

"Yea I know; but why does it have to be so boring? I mean the teachers don't even try to make it interesting. How are we supposed to work when we are falling asleep during the lecture?" Ember asked.

"I honestly don't know." Cynder said, not sure what else to say of the matter.

"Well what about you then, got any plans for after school life?" Ember asked as she placed her satchel by her paws.

Cynder sat still in silence, thinking over Ember's question and not sure what to say. "You know Ember… I don't know… I was kind of thinking that I might just join the army, but even then, I'm not so sure about it," She tried explaining.

"Hey you still got a long, long life ahead of you." Ember said as she her paw on Cynder's shoulder and offered an understanding smile. "You have plenty of time to come up with something," said Ember as she removed her paw. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood to have some fun, so why don't we go get some shopping done? You could use something nice to wear anyway."

"But I don't like to wear things, there always uncomfortable and itchy,"Cynder complained as she looked down at her body, thinking back to the times where Ember made her wear something.

"Oh, but you look so bland." Ember said with a giggle. "You refuse to wear anything that I show you, and you always looked so pretty in them."

"They may be pretty to you but there disgusting to me." Cynder commented, making a face.

"Stop it, you will break my heart saying things like that," Ember said, folding her paws over her breast as she pretending to pout. "Today, however, I will not stop until I find you something that you will like." Ember said with a smirk.

"There really is no need to do that, I'm fine the way I am." Cynder denied, shaking her head

"Well how will you find a mate looking the way you are now?" Ember questioned. "You don't even try to show off your beauty, and trust me Cynder you are a very pretty dragoness," Ember reassured.

"Then why would I need to wear jewelry? Also, are we really back to talking about boys?" said Cynder. "I thought we left that subject!"

"Because you are too much of a tomboy, you need something to bring out the female inside of you." Ember ignored the comment about bringing boys back into the conversation. "Now come on; we got shopping to do." said Ember before standing up and leaving the building.

The urge to just leave Ember behind, and just head home was very tempting to Cynder. However she could never do something so rude to her best friend, and there was no way to convince Ember to do something else. Once she had her mind set on something then, there is no stopping the pink dragoness. She would climb over mountains and swim across the oceans if her desire to do so was great enough.

"Are you coming Cynder?" Ember said as she stood in the doorway, looking back at her friend who was still sitting down.

Cynder sighed in defeat. "Yea, I'm coming, I'm coming."

Cynder soon found herself in the familiar, and in her opinion annoying, area that was known as the dragon marketplace. Both Ember and herself walked down the street past several vendors, the creatures behind the counter shouting at the top of their lungs about what they had, trying to attract the people over. How anyone, more importantly Ember, could walk around here so often without going deaf was beyond Cynder's understanding.

"Come one Cynder; this way!" shouted Ember over the crowd. The pink dragoness took Cynder to the back end of the market district, a place that was much quieter than the rest of the area. It was still kind of loud from the noise the shop owners and other bystanders made.

Cynder noticed that they were approaching a small green tent that was slightly hidden from view. It stood right in-between two much larger vendors, and was easily overlooked. Pushing the flap aside, Ember entered with following Cynder. The first thing that Cynder noticed was the exotic jewelry and gems sitting upon three rows of tables, as well as sets of armor and weapons designed for all different kinds of creatures, from dragons to moles. The place would have been nice, if it wasn't for the fact that the inside of the tent was uncomfortably hot, and the air was very stuffy. Not only that, but it had a faint, foul smell.

Before Cynder could asked Ember why in the world they were still in such a miserable place, Ember called out "Diemir, you back there?"

From the back of the tent came out a mole wearing a small red vest and black pants. "Ah, if it isn't Ember, how is your father doing?" He asked with a casual voice.

"He is doing just fine; he hopes you are doing well also." Ember responded in the same casual, friendly manner.

"Oh you know same old same old. I see you brought a friend of yours along as well." The mole, Diemir, pointed out as he noticed Cynder.

"Let me introduce you. Diemir this is Cynder. Cynder this is Diemir," Ember said, motioning back and forth.

"A pleasure to meet you." said Diemir with a small bow.

"Nice to meet you to." Cynder said, not wanting to be rude.

"By the way, Diemir, my father wanted me to give this to you," Ember said as she took out a small folded paper, and handed it to the mole.

"What is that?" asked Cynder.

"You see Cynder, Diemir here has been working with my father for long time." Ember began to explain. "Since my dad can't really leave the city, he has Diemir here gather information about certain topic while he is out gathering more items for his business." She explained

"What do you mean by gathering more items?" asked Cynder, eyeing the exotic mix of weapons and baubles.

"Well I guess you could call me a thief of sorts." Diemir piped up. "I take that of which has been discarded. I raid ruins, I rummage through trash, I dig up grave… probably shouldn't have mentioned that last one, not very good for business," Diemir said, causing Ember to chuckle at the mole.

"That would explain the smell," Cynder said as she began to look around the room, wondering how much stuff there once belonged to someone who is now deceased.

"Oh there's a smell? Sorry I never really noticed," said the mole. "This tent here is my home, and I take it everywhere I go. Though I leave all of my items with another friend of mine. I sleep here, I bath here, I make passionate…"

"I get it," interrupted Cynder, not wanting to hear any more.

"Quite right. My apologies, sometimes I have troubles keeping my mouth shut. Anyway what brings you here Ember? Surely you didn't come to just give me this letter."

"Well this one keeps on wearing nothing to show off her beauty," Ember motioned with her tail to Cynder. "So I brought her here, thinking that you might have something she would actually wear once in a while."

Cynder only rolled her eyes and began to browse through the items on the tables, thinking the sooner she finished looking the quicker she could get out of this miserable place. As she wondered through the things on the tables, Ember continued to talk to Diemir, though Cynder paid no attention to them. She looked at most of the items with disinterest in any of them, but as she came across the final table she couldn't help but stare at a silver choker that sat next to a pile of other silver braces. They were well crafted but not flashy, something that Cynder found very likeable.

Diemir noticed this, and said to the black dragoness, "I see you found something that caught your eye. If it helps you make up your mind, I can tell you that I got it from some old ruins far, far away. I couldn't read the text along the walls there very well, but the few words that I could decipher were something along the lines of 'terror' and something to do with the sky. Whoever they once belonged to must have been someone historically important,"

Cynder stood still for a moment, thinking it over before deciding to buy the choker and the braces that came with it. After paying for it, Diemir was kind enough to help Cynder put it on, followed by bringing out a mirror so she could see herself. Cynder was rather surprised how different she looked with the jewelry on. From the choker around her neck, and the braces around her wrists and tail, she loved it all.

Then it was time to leave, much to Cynder's delight. Once outside she took a large breath, surprised at how much she missed the fresh air.

"It so nice to be out of that tent," said Cynder. "How can anyone stand being in there for more than a few seconds?"

"I don't know, but at least I finally found something for you." The pink dragoness giggled gleefully. "Now come on lets go show your father: I'm sure he will be off work by now and would love to see how you look." Ember said as she looked at the suns position. It was already beginning to set, so there would be only a few more hours of daylight.

The two didn't have to spend a lot of time looking. Only about ten minutes into their search, they heard his low, rumbling laughter. Following the voice, they found him, Terrador's laugh reduced to a light chuckle.

"Hey dad, what's so funny?" Cynder asked as she sauntered his way. She didn't know why, but it felt oddly appropriate with her new jewelry.

Hearing his daughter's voice, Terrador turned around. He then stepped aside to reveal Spyro, who was standing not too far in front of him. His back was straight and his was face expressionless, very soldier-like. "You see, this young lad," Terrador motioned to the red dragon. "Just came strolling up to me, and told me that he will one day be a general over the army, and then asked me to personally train him. How could I do anything but laugh at such a request?"

Spyro stood still, with a calm and collective look on his face. Not a single hint of embarrassment shown on him.

"I thought you said that everyone here was pathetic?" asked Cynder with a growl. However, the glint in her eye was clearly smug.

"I did indeed say such a thing, but I will admit I was a little quick to make such a judgment, and for that I do apologize." Spyro stated calmly.

"Yea, well, apology not accepted." Cynder snapped. She didn't expect an apology,

"Oh Cynder, you could at least be a little bit kinder to him," said Ember with a small frown.

"No way, not after what he said to me," protested Cynder as she continued glaring at Spyro.

Terrador began to chuckle again. "You not only look like your mother, Cynder, but you take after her as well." Terrador then turned and faced Spyro once more. "Apologies, child, but my answer is no. Go find someone else to train you."

Spyro sighed, and without a word, walked away. Turning back to his daughter, Terrador said "I see you got some new jewelry. It looks very nice on you,"

Cynder couldn't help but blush a tiny bit at her father's comment, and thanked him for it. "Now then it's getting late, why don't we head home?" Cynder suggested

"Yea I probably sure get going, I think I spent a little too much time goofing around," said Ember. "See you around Cynder," she said before heading home.

* * *

><p>It was late in the night that same day, and most people were asleep by now. There was one particular dragon however, who was walking around, looking for an isolated place. He bore a white cloak that covered his entire body and neck, and a white mask concealed his face. After some searching he found a private place, and from beneath his cloak, the dragon took out a small crystal ball. He mumbled a few words before the ball began to glow, and the image of a purple dragon appeared on it.<p>

"Father, I have found the main target, but I have ran into a slight problem," said the dragon.

"Well whatever it is, fix it and make it quick," The purple dragon said, malice laced into his voice.

"I will, don't you worry. Everything will go as planned. I do however request one thing,"

"And what might that be?"

The dragon stood silent for a short while before saying:

"I need a group of expendable dragons."

**Well I wondering whats going on there at the end? One thing I would like to know however is what do you guys the read think is going to happen and what your over all opinion on the whole chapter is. I would also like to give a huge thanks to HKGhost, who is my new co-author and beta reader for this story. I would also like to thank him for correcting the multiple mistakes that I had originally planned for this story. I couldn't have done it with out you. I hope you all have a wonderful day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone sorry for the long wait for this chapter, my co-author has been very busy lately with personal stuff so he didn't have a lot of time to edit or work on this chapter. With that said I hope you all enjoy.**

Blackness, an empty void of darkness that consumed all beings of light not letting anything in, this empty void stood all around her. That is all Cynder could see in her as she dreamt of a distant, past memory. Her body remained motionless as she listened to the faint dripping sound in the distance.

Drip,

Drip,

Drip,

A constant never, ending pattern which echoed in the blackened room of which she dreamed of. She was not fully aware of where she was, or what she was doing there. All she did was focus on the endless sound of a liquid falling.

Drip,

Drip,

Drip,

She wasn't sure how long she stood there: minutes, hours, days, years maybe? She wasn't sure. She could of spent an eternity there, and still not be aware. The only company was the dripping noise that ever so slowly drove her to insanity by its rhythmic pattern.

Drip,

Drip,

Drip,

She felt something beginning to pool around her feet, though she paid little attention to it as she stared into the empty void in front of her, her mind numb as the same noise began to drill into her ears. Like a hypnotic music, the noise never grew nor shrunk in sound, and never did it quicken or slowdown in pace. It seemed almost as if the steady dripping whispered to her, encouraging her to stay motionless.

Drip,

Drip,

Drip,

The liquid around her quickly began to rise, and soon it reached her chest, still rising quicker and quicker. She never moved, still focused on the sound in the distance. The liquid rose higher and higher, until it stopped just below her lower jaw. But she wasn't aware of this, still drawn by the other sound dripping down. There was a soft roar growing; at first it was soft and was nearly muted by the dripping, but over time it became louder as it came closer. Still the sounds of dripping could be heard, even when the roaring became deafening.

It was only then that Cynder noticed her predicament; it was too late by then. Quickly identifying the roaring was from a wave coming towards her, she had no time to react as she was swept up by it and forcefully thrown back into the liquid below. A metallic taste poured into her mouth as she opened her mouth in hopes for her lungs to be filled with air, only to be stuffed with the fluids.

Her lungs started to burn with their screams for oxygen. She tried to swim, only for each stroke of her arms and legs to pull her down deeper and deeper downwards till she lost consciousness.

Drip,

Drip,

Drip,

The sound awaked her from her unconscious state. Though still dreaming the scenery around her seemed all too familiar, but she could not recall where she had seen it from. An itch formed in the back of her mind as she tried to remember such memories.

She glanced downwards at her feet, however, instead of the black beautiful scales that she had known all of her life, she saw crusty crimson red staining them. Glanced around the rest of her body, she found that she was covered with the stale, dried, red blood.

A ray of light pooled in front of her, illuminating what hid in before her. She reeled back in terror as she heart sank and her eyes dilated in fear. The memory of the area finally coming back to her, though she wished they never did. Before her, lying upon the ground with a deep cut across its throat, and a bloody paw near it, was an all too familiar friendly face of a full grown female dragon. The source of the dripping sound was found, and was revealed to be the blood that dripped down out of her open muzzle as the crimson liquid fell down into a pool of the vital fluid.

Terror consumed Cynder; she wanted to run, she wanted to look away from the one before her, but her body wouldn't listen to her demands and pleas. Tears started to stream down her face, and just when she thought her nightmare would never end, she woke up.

Cynder jolted awake, as she quickly sat up breathing heavily. She noticed the door to her room was open, and a large shadow was being cast into her room. Cynder's room, like most of her house, was simple and practical. She has a bed up against the top left side of her room, and beside that is a small little book case which is filled with books. Across from that is the bathroom, where she can freshen up. Lastly, besides the doors to the balcony, is a full mirror that allows her to check herself in the morning. Her door was normally closed, but tonight, it was open. The dim candle light from the hall, combined with the figure in the doorway, cast a large and long shadow upon her. After a second, she realized it was Terrador in the doorway, looking quite worried.

"Are you alright Cynder?" asked her father as he began to step into her room. "I was just stopping to see if you were asleep, and I heard the commotion." He made his way into her room and beside her bed. Cynder took some time to respond, taking a moment for her breathing to slow down.

"Sorry dad," She began. "I didn't mean to make you worry, and I'm fine, I just had a bad dream about… her."

Terrador instantly knew exactly who Cynder was talking about. He quickly extended his wings around her, and embraced her with a hug. "I… I just miss her so much," said Cynder as tears formed in her eyes, burying her head into her father's chest. Normally, such dramatic shows of emotion were above her. But at this time, she didn't want to hold back tears.

"Shh, I know you do," Terrador spoke, his voice softer than usual. "I miss her too." Terrador said, trying to calm Cynder down. "I may not understand why your mother took her own life, but one thing that is for sure, is that she will always be with you." He craned his head down and gently nuzzled his daughter's head.

Cynder silently cringed as she heard this, cursing to herself mentally for her knowledge of the truth. The truth stung her, and would cut her father to the bone; she stayed close to her father's comforting warmth till the pain in her heart and the knot in her throat slowly went away.

"Do you feel better now?" Terrador asked, as he pulled away from his daughter. Cynder nodded in response, using her paw to wipe away the tears. "Good, now why don't you get some more sleep? You seem tired." Terrador observed as he moved his daughter to her bed. Although she was still quite tall and old, Terrador had no problem moving her like a hatchling. She was quite tired though, and Cynder gladly took him up on the offer. She watched her father leave her room before closing her eyes, hoping for a calmer night.

Later on in the day, after an 'exciting' day at school, Cynder was out and about with her friend Ember. They were wondering around the city, with no direction of where they are going, talking about Urlchen, and other days to come.

"Hey Ember do you know if you or your father are doing anything this Urlchen?" asked Cynder. Ember pondered over this question for a short while before answering

"Nothing that I am aware of, we might go to celebration in the city square. Other than that I think we are going to spend this holiday indoors. Why do you ask?" She replied as she recalled her family's plan.

"Well," Cynder began. "I was rather hoping that this year, all four of us could actually do something together for a change. Surely there has to be something that all of us could enjoy during the party," Cynder proposed

"Yea well you know my father; he doesn't do to well in parties, or really anything that isn't a formal gathering," Cynder chuckled as she remember some of the past times she had seen Ignitus during the previous Urlchen celebrations. So stiff and formal in the midst of such revelry. "None the less, I think it's high time you found someone else to go with you for a change," Ember said causing Cynder to cease her laughter.

"Now why would you say that? Don't you enjoy hanging out with me?" The black dragoness asked, frowning at the thought of one of her few friends no longer enjoying her company.

"It's not that I don't enjoy it," Ember began to explain. If one listened, they would find she had the voice of a politician trying to fix a delicate situation. "It's just that it's always just you and me," the pink dragoness stated while a small gloomy look on her face. "You might be my best friend, but I got other friends to; friends who you don't seem to like all that much. I still want to be around them. So I think this year, I'm going to spend this Urlchen with them." Ember replied, hoping she had worded things as to not offend her lonely friend. Cynder, at that moment, fell into a slight depression.

"Oh," she said not sure what else to say. Ember noticed the sad look in her eye.

"Cynder, please don't look sad, you're making me feel bad." The pink dragoness pleated. "I still love you as much as any other best friend would, but you need to find more friends other than me. I'm doing this for you Cynder, trust me on that." Ember reassured. It was true; Ember could not name one of dragon that Cynder called 'friend' besides herself.

Cynder knew that Ember had her best interests at heart, but she didn't really want to find other friends. She was happy with the just the one.

"I don't know Ember, what if…"

"Hey where is the hot-headed, courageous Cynder that I used know?" Interrupted Ember. "I really missed talking to her." she said jokingly. Cynder smiled and playfully shoved her.

"Oh fine," Cynder finally relented. "I will see what I can do, I guess,"

"See? Now, was that so hard to say?" Ember asked with a snicker.

"Oh hush you, no one wanted to-"

"Hey Cynder, care to help me with this," called out a familiar voice.

"You know I'm really getting tired of being interrupted," said Cynder to herself as she turned towards the direction of the voice, and saw Emory standing upon a ladder hanging up lamps along with other decorations around the area. "What do you want now Emory?" She asked, quite annoyed.

"Just wanted to know if you gals wanted to help me put up decoration for Urlchen. I am doing it for Bulsem," Emory said as he pointed towards an elderly yellow dragon, who was trying to put up some decorations on his own. Hearing his name, he turned around, and saw Emory talking to Ember and Cynder.

"Friends of yours?" the yellow dragon asked.

Cynder ignored their two as they began to chat a little, thinking if she should help them. She usually wouldn't mind helping the old dragon, but it's the fact that Emory was there that she didn't like. Ember must have noticed Cynder in deep though as she nudged her side, before saying in a low tone: "Come on Cynder. Let's help him out; it's not like we got anything better to do."

Cynder huffed a little. After a few moments of thought, she shrugged before calling out to the two males. "Hey mister Bulsem! Would you mind if we help out as well?"

"Why of course not, I would love the extra help. Just take some of these ornaments, and hang them around," the old dragon said as he pointed towards a couple of boxes on the ground, a smile growing across his face. He loved to see that this generation was just as generous as his own. Approaching them, Cynder and Ember began to pull out colorful lamps, different color streamers, wreaths, and other ornaments and started to hang them on all along the buildings.

"Hey thanks for helping us out, Cynder," Emory called out. "Oh and you look really nice with those braces on,"

Ignoring his last comment, Cynder asked "So why are you helping Bulsem out?"

"I just like to help out is all; I was walking by when I saw him struggling to hang up a few things so I offered my assistance." Emory stated, pausing mid-sentence as he placed an ornament in its proper place.

Cynder only nodded her head before getting back to work. She was interrupted when she felt something poke her side. Looking to her left, she saw Ember using her tail to point towards Emory. She then silently began to move her mouth, hoping Cynder could read her lips. Cynder didn't understand what she was trying to say and only shrugged. Ember groan before stepping very close to her and whispered to her.

"Ask him to Urlchen." Was her simple statement.

"I don't like him all that much. He keeps on trying to get me to go out with him." whined Cynder.

"So what? He clearly is a nice guy; I see no reason for you to say no. Come on, just give it a try. If you don't have fun, then you can just tell him that you're not interested in him. It's as simple as that." Ember pushed.

"Fine." Cynder groaned. "But if I do, will you leave me alone about it?" Cynder asked, earning a nod from her friend. With a sigh, showing that she didn't want to do this, she turned around and walked towards Emory. She was stopped however as she noticed three muscular dragons walking their way. They were all average height, which was about a head, neck, and shoulders taller than Cynder. Bulsem noticed them as well, and approached them, hoping that they might be able to help as well. She doubted it; they had sandy colored scarves wrapped around their necks, as well as sandy colored wraps around all four paws. They were soldiers.

"Excuse me gentlemen, would you be so kind and help us out?" Bulsum asked kindly. But the dragons seemed to ignore the elder before them, instead looking around the area. That is when they noticed Cynder. One of the dragons leaned forward and whispered something to the dragon that was in front of him

"Colonel Terrador wishes his daughter to return to him." The lead dragon proclaimed, looking down at Cynder. "It is best we not keep him waiting; he seemed anxious. He said there were reports that you may be in danger." The lead dragon relayed the information to the group.

Cynder knew that something wasn't right, so she prepared herself for the worst, thinking back to all of the instructions her father taught her. She slowed her breath to calm herself and waited to see what would come of the situation.

"Hold on," Bulsem said. "Terrador is a general I would know, I served under him. He made sure that you never forgot his rank. Also," He pointed out the paw-wraps the guards' paws. "You have wrapped your paws incorrectly. That is the first thing they teach you!" The yellow dragon growled, "Children," He addressed Cynder, Emory, and Ember. "Leave."

The lead dragon shared a glance with one on his left. That dragon nodded, and then quickly stepped forward. His tail shot up, stabbing into Belsum's gut then going up, behind the ribcage and straight into the dragon's heart.

A look of horror fell upon the old dragons face as he realized what had happened. The blood began to slowly trickle around the puncture. The attacking dragon, wrapped a forelimb around the near dead older dragon and dragged him back into a dark alley. There was the sickening squelching sound, over and over again, then the dragon returned, blood soaking the wrap around his forepaw and covering most of his chest.

Cynder just stared at the bloody paw, all of her courage quickly fleeing from her body as she imagined the mangled body of the yellow dragon lying in the alley. Similar memories of the past began to swarm her mind, and her heart began to quicken in pace as she slowly started to panic. She knew that blood soaked paw. It was the same that had removed the throat of her mother. All the training she learned from Terrador seemed to be erased from her mind, as she began to tremble. The thing forming in her mind was the word 'run'.

And that is what she did. She turned and began to run away, trying to escape the memories that flooded her mind. Ember and Emory watched as she ran away, and felt like they should do the same. The three ran as fast as they could. Emory looked behind them and saw that the three dragons were right behind them, a smile on some of their faces as if they enjoyed their little game of cat and mouse.

Cynder took several twists and turns; Ember and Emory doing the same, thinking that Cynder was taking them somewhere safe. Cynder then ran down an alleyway, the end blocked off by a wall. She ran all the way down to the end before laying there.

"Come on, Cynder what are you doing!? Get up," pleaded Ember. But her words fell upon deaf ears as Cynder was still deep in her mind. Ember then noticed that two of the goons that were following them appeared at the front of the way they came in.

"What do you want from us?" shouted Emory.

"We are just here to do a job, so why don't you just hand over that black one over there, and we won't harm you too much," said one of the murders with a smug grin on his face.

"I won't let you lay a single claw on her," Emory shouted back. Turning his head towards the two female behind him he said "Ember I want you to take Cynder and get out of here, I will try to hold them off as long as I can,"

Ember stood motionless for a few short moments before picking she began to pick Cynder up. With some difficulty Ember managed to place Cynder on her back, and just as she began to take flight, she heard Emory scream as he charged forwards. Emory leaped at the two murders in front of him, but one of them just swung his tail at him knocking him backwards. He hit this back with a thud, but threw his legs up and rolled backwards, shooting several icicles at one.

The dragon, the same one that was covered in Belsum's blood, stepped to the side and pounced at Emory.

The smaller dragon rolled under him, coming into a crouch and launching himself at the lead dragon. The lead dragon opened his mouth, letting out a jet of fire at Emory. A shield of ice formed in front of emory, and the ice dragon smashed into the leader, clawing and biting at his neck and shoulders. The leader reared on his hind legs, grabbing Emory and ripping him off of his chest, then throwing the ice dragon into the stone ground.

His head collided first with a loud thunk. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, trying to attack. The blood covered dragon grabbed Emory's head and slammed it into the ground, blood trickling from Emory's mouth.

Ember tried to ignore what was happening, but as she reached the top of the wall, the third goon appeared and grabbed her, pulling her down as he jumped down to the ground. Cynder fell off Ember's back, and the two landed close by Emory. The impact knocked Cynder back to her senses, and though she was very dizzy from it, she quickly shook it off.

She stood and looked at what was around her. She saw that Ember had passed out from landing on her head when she fell, and Emory was troubles standing. She noticed that Emory had a large but nonlethal gash along his chest. She then took into account the two dragons in front of her and the one behind her, keeping them trapped there.

"Now you are coming with us, girl." The leader said as he reached for Cynder. His paw never touched her.

A ball of fire collided with his back, sending him smacking into the alley wall. His scales cracked from the sudden heat, and the sensitive skin underneath blistered and bled. The blood covered dragon had another mass of flames slam into his side, but this one was in the shape of a dragon. Once more, the scales cracked with the fire and heat, but so did the murderer's ribs from the force of the charge. The murderer was knocked over, leaving whatever savior clear, a snarl etched on his face.

It was the red dragon, Spyro. He reared up and dropped his weight into, right on the murderer's ribs. The murder cried out as another snapping sound was heard. If anyone was to look close, they would have a seen a discharge of green energy as Spyro's blow made contact.

Was Spyro really that strong, or heavy? Cynder questioned, keeping herself down for now.

Spyro spun as the third dragon ran at him, lightening brimming the other dragons' jaw and shooting out at Spyro. It barely missed Spyro's head; though to Cynder the lightning seemed to have shifted slightly, causing it to miss.

Fire covered Spyro as he dashed over, slamming into the third dragon's chest and continuing the tackle, knocking him to his back. His claws were red flashes as they repeatedly clawed at the third dragon's chest, tearing off the various scales and littering them across the ground. The third dragon bunched his legs up and kicked Spyro in the gut, pushing the red dragon over him and onto his back. As the third dragon tried to rise, he slipped. No one noticed the small patch of ice under his foot.

Spyro leapt upon his head, slamming his jaw viciously into the stone ground three times, then twisting it to the side and briefing fire onto the dragon's head.

The fire dragon howled, and wrenched his head from the flames, charging blindly out of the alley. Spyro dropped to the ground, just in time for the leader's tail to miss him. Spyro didn't end there; he pounced on the leader's tail, and closed his jaw around the middle of the tail.

With a loud crunch and a howl, Spyro bit through the leader's tail and tore it clean off. Before Spyro could do anything else, the leader grabbed the murderer that was missing part of his tail, and dragged him out of the alley in hopes of escaping the monster that attacked them.

Spyro just watched with a look of anger on his face as the three murders ran way leaving behind a small trail of blood in their behind them. Spyro then turned around and asked

"Is everyone alright?"

"I will be fine. Though you may want to check if these two are alright." said Emory as he gestured to Ember, who was still unconscious, and Cynder who was slightly amazed by what Spyro did. "They are more important than me."

With a sigh Cynder said "I guess I should thank you then" She couldn't help but think that if she didn't run away, they wouldn't have been hurt. Hate boiled in her body, as she began to despise herself for her actions.

Spyro must of noticed this as he said. "I think at the moment you have other things to worry about," he pointed towards Emory who was beginning to sway back and forth from the extensive blood loss. Quickly walking up to him, Spyro caught him before he fell over, and lied him down gently.

Before Spyro could do anything to treat the blue dragon's wounds, Cynder heard the soft trotting of covered paws as some of the city guards approached them. Looking at their paw-warps, one could tell they were wrapped properly.

Before one of the guards spoke up, Cynder noticed that the three dragon that attacked them were surrounded by the guards so that they don't run away. Cynder guessed that they followed the trail of blood back to them "Is everyone here alright?" asked one of the guards.

Spyro quickly stood up and approached them. "Cynder and I are alright, but the pink one is unconscious, and the blue one has multiple wounds, and is losing blood at decent pace. I would consider taking him to a hospital as soon as possible," Spyro said as if he were making a field report to his superiors. Cynder found this strange but she didn't pay too much mind to it.

"Thank you young man," said the same guard. He then turned to some of his other men and said "Take those two and make sure they are alright,"

Two dragon guards nodded in response and quickly picked Emory and Ember up and flew to the nearest hospital. The guard then looked down at Spyro and said "You must be quite the skilled fighter there for someone your age. You're lucky to be alive in my opinion,"

"Why do you say that?" asked Cynder.

The guard walked up to one of the murders and removed his scarf, revealing three small black and red claw marks, and insignia of a solder in Malefor's army. "I don't know how they might of snuck in here, but be reinsured that not a single soul who follows that accursed man will set foot in this city," said the guard hoping by saying that the two young dragons in front of him won't become paranoid by everyone around them questioning who is friend or foe.

But in reality, Cynder more worried about what three of Malefor's soldiers wanted with her. She came to the conclusion that it must have something to do with her father.

"Where are you going to take them?" asked Spyro breaking Cynder's train of thought.

With a large grin the guard said "we are going to take them to the prison yard, there they will be interrogated or every single drop of information they can give us about Malefor, and hopefully some of these rumors that have been going around town can be answered,"

"Then you should take them away pretty soon before some of them die from blood loss," Spyro said jokingly.

That guard chuckled at this remark. "You make a fair point young one. You heard him take these guys to get patched up and then send them quickly to jail. On the double men," The guard shouted before all of the guards started to walk away, with the prisoners in tow. The guard who Spyro was talking to stayed behind though. "I just need to quickly check, did anyone else get hurt?"

"Actually yes, an elderly dragon by the name of Belsum was killed before me and my friends before we ran away," said Cynder feeling sorry for the old guy.

"Then shall go find him then right now, I'm sorry for your loss," the guard said thinking that she knew Belsum. The guard then took off in search of the dead body.

Then out of the corner of her eye, Cynder noticed that Spyro began to walk away.

"Hey where do you think you're going, I still have more questions for you," she shouted, but Spyro ignore her and continued to walk away. She growled in annoyance before letting out a sigh and looking up towards the sky in hopes that they would be able to erase the past events. Today was definitely a troubling day for her. As she continued to look into the sky she noticed something strange. A couple building down she saw a member of Relconem, as she could tell by his white cloak and mask, standing on a roof a few buildings down looking in her general direction. Had he been watching there fight, or was he just doing what all members of Relconem do?

Cynder looked more closely and noticed that if he was up close to her, he would be just a bit taller than her. Just as he began to walk away Cynder thought back to the one she nearly ran into in school the other day. She watched as the white cladded dragon walked out of view.

She then shook her head, not wanting to deal with more thoughts regarding this Zealot. Right now she wanted to see if Ember was alright. So she took to the skies, heading towards the nearest hospital.

* * *

><p>It was very late in the night and the moon hung brightly in the air. Inside the prison, sat the three murders from before, each one being previously interrogated, but held strong and didn't tell the guards a single thing about their master's plans.<p>

"So when do you think we are going to be sprung out of here," asked one of the goons confidently.

"Oh I would say any moment right now," said another smugly.

"Keep quiet in there you three," shouted the guard that stood in front of the jail cell.

The three just laughed in response. "Oh don't you worry, you won't have to hear from us or anyone else for much longer," said the third goon.

Then shortly after the guard felt a large stone object collide with his temple, wounding him badly and knocking him unconscious, though it wasn't fatal. The three dragons in the cell waited for a moment to see who their savor was. Approaching the cell came a young dragon, dressed in the Relconem attire. On his mask had a series of thin cracks; if one looked at the cracks long enough, the form of a thin, jagged frown would emerge.

"Got anything you want to preach to us?" joked one of the dragons, causing the others to laugh as well. The young dragon removed his mask revealing his face to the three, causing there laughter to instantly go quite.

"S-sorry we d-didn't know it was you," said the dragon who made the joke nervously. The young dragon didn't say anything, but instead looked at them with a sad look in his eyes, before letting out a sigh.

"Well what are you waiting for? Let us out of here." Said the leader with the missing tail.

The young dragon clenched his teeth together, before quietly muttering, "I'm sorry." The Zealot opened his mouth, letting out an earth shot that crumpled cell's door. He stepped to the side, waiting for the first Dragon, the one that had killed Bulsum, to stand and nervously walk past. When his back was to the saint, the saint leapt upon his back. He placed his claws against the murder's neck, long sharp claws of ice growing and encircling the dragon's neck. The saint placed his paw on the side of the dragon's face, then pushed his face away while pulling his claws and ice blades all around the murder's neck, severing both jugular veins and carotid arteries. The murder fell to the ground as the Zealot nimbly hopped off his back, staring as the blood drained from the murder's neck.

"He, I am not quite sorry about." the saint said. "Killing that other dragon was not part of the plan."

"But this is?" The leader with the missing tail hissed urgently, staring at his now dead comrade.

"Unfortunately," The saint said as he entered the cell. "Yes." A large blade of earth spiked from the ground, slicing into the tailless leader's chest and killing him efficiently. Blood slid down the spike and onto the ground. Before his death, the leader could be heard croaking.

"Why?"

The remaining survivor spat a bolt of lightning at the Zealot. The saint stood still as the bolt curved around his head, then shot at and lanced the remaining dragon. He was sent sprawling back from the unexpected blow. The Zealot leapt upon the dragon's prone form, raising his paw to deal the fatal blow.

"Please…" The dragon tried helplessly.

"I am sorry." The saint said, his upheld paw quivering. The dragon, seeing his attacker waver, lunged his head forward to try and bite at the saint. The Zealot's paw was faster.

As he left the cell, he used his ice element to wash the blood from his robe before picking up his mask one more and put it back on, then heated his body to the point where the water evaporated. Turning back, he removed his mask to let a stream of snow to cover the area around him, then melted it with a plume of fire and washed away the blood. Next, the spire of earth he conjured was lowered, and then all the bodies burned to ashes.

'Just like father taught me.' The saint thought morbidly, placing his mask back on. Sighing, he turned, bowing his head, and left.

**And there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed it, I myself just loved the ending there. Like I said before, I would love to hear your guys thoughts and opinions as to what the hell is going on in this story. I would like to give credit to my co-author HKGhost for writing the fight scenes as well as editing the story. I would also like to apologies to him for not giving him credit when I first posted the chapter.**

**Also I got some bad news. My co-author HKGhost is partaking in NaNoWriMo. Im not really sure what that is myself, but one thing I do know for sure is that he is going to be too busy with his own story for the next month. So While he is doing that I need a temporary co-author in his absence. Do know that I will be fully trusting you with not spoiling anything in the story if you do become my co-author. That is all that I have to say so I hope you all have a fantastic day.**


	5. Chapter 5

Cynder walked through the hospital promptly with a bag around her neck looking for her friend's room, the bag nagging at her hence the fact she had little control over it. She found the room with partial ease as she had been there the day before and opened the door to see her friend and father.

"Hey Cynder," said Ember excitedly as she saw Cynder enter the large room. "How are you doing?" she asked happy to see her best friend.

"Ugh, were do I start? School was terrible," complained Cynder as she quickly thought back to the event of the boring day she suffered through, earning a smirking chuckle from Ember.

"Well I'm just glad that I'm here. Less work for me," Ember said with a smile, but a confused look formed on Ignitus' face, as he wondered why his daughter would think such a thing.

"You're still doing all of your homework young lady," he said sternly, nearly scolding Ember.

"But who is going to get it? You're busy half the time, and I'm stuck here for the next few days," Ember said confidently thinking that she had finally won an argument with her father. However Ignitus grew a smug look on his face and right on cue; Cynder removed the bag from her side, and started to remove scrolls from it, and handing them to Ember. Ember's jaw fell as she looked upon the small stack of scrolls that lay beside her.

Ember sighed "Oh come on, Cynder I thought you were on my side?" Cynder only laughed in response, finding her friends distress amusing.

"Hey just be glad that your father was able to pull some strings so you don't have to get that stuff done until you're allowed to leave this place," Cynder said with a grin across her muzzle. "So how are you feeling?" she asked, her smile disappearing.

"Well my head still hurts, and thanks to some unforeseen circumstances I have a splitting head ache, oh if only I had a friend who would do homework for me," Ember said sarcastically. Cynder just rolled her eyes, and playfully pushed her friend. "Hey don't push me, I'm mortally wounded," Ember said as she pretended to be in pain.

"You have bump on your head Ember, you're going to be fine," Cynder said sternly. Ember returned Cynder's glare with her own puppy dog eyes. The two didn't say a word to one another, and continued to stare at one another, until there silence was broken when Cynder began to giggle at her friends antics. This soon began a full on laugh erupting from Cynder's muzzle, and Ember soon joined her in her fit of laughter. Ignitus himself couldn't help but enjoy the girl's slight childish behaviors, and gave a light chuckle.

It was then that Terrador walked into the room, but it wasn't until Cynder and Ember stopped laughing that they noticed him, and with his presence came the lawful, serious atmosphere.

"Oh hey dad, what are you doing here?" asked Cynder, wondering why he wasn't back training squads of dragon warriors.

Terrador had a serious look on his face and it took him a second to respond "Something rather important came up Cynder, now if you two will excuse us I need to talk to Ignitus in private," Terrador then made a gesture with a wing for Ignitus to meet him outside the room. Cynder was rather shocked to hear her father's slightly hostile response. Ignitus seemed rather confused, but he didn't question his friend. "I will be right back Ember," he said before standing up and leaving the room, followed by Terrador.

Cynder and Ember still had a questioning look on their face as they watched their fathers leave. The childish feel had left the room and left the girls anxious. "What do you think that is all about?" whispered Ember, hoping that their parents wouldn't hear them.

"I… I don't know," Cynder whispered back taking a moment to think things through. It wasn't out of the norm for her father to ladder business over idle chit chat, but he was rarely angry. If anything she herself wanted answers. "I can go find out if you want,"

"I don't know, what if you get caught?" Ember whispered, concerned that Cynder would get in trouble for ease dropping on the conversation.

"Oh what is the worse that could happen?" Cynder asked, earning a serious look from Ember. Cynder knew better than anyone what the worse was in her father's standards. "Look, I won't be gone for long, I just want to know what is so important that they can't speak about it in front of us. Then I'll come right back ok?" Cynder said hoping to ease her friends mind.

Ember sighed "alright, but be back soon, I don't want you to get in any trouble," Cynder nodded her head, before tapping into her natural born element of shadow. Ember watched as Cynder was dissolved into the ground leaving behind a black pool of darkness; however Cynder saw things differently in her current state. To her the once light blue walls were now a light shade of gray. Even Ember looked different, as her once pink scales were now only a lighter shade of gray then the walls and a wispy, black, shadow like residue radiated off of her body. The shadows upon the wall were nearly pitch black, and the light pouring out the window was a blinding white. Cynder didn't want to use up to much energy using her element so she started to leave the room. Ember just watched in slight amazement as the pool of black slithered out the door.

Cynder quickly walked down the hallway, being careful to avoid anyone walking by, and tediously sticking to the darkness of the walls. watched as the people around her talked to one another or carried something from one place to another, each of them with the same shadowy substance that surrounded Ember. Cynder never knew what it was exactly but it was interesting to her none the less.

Soon both Ignitus and Terrador came into view; there scales the same murky shade of gray and shadowy outline stood up from the wall around them. Cynder then started to listen in on them.

"I don't understand, how did they get out?" Ignitus whispered shocked to hear what Terrador told him.

"They didn't get out, I said that they vanished," grunted Terrador in irritation.

"What do you mean they vanished, how can three adult dragons just vanish from their cells?" asked Ignitus concerned.

"I wish I could tell you. I suspect that they might have been killed and their bodies burned from the small traces of ash that we found, but I can't say if that is true or not," Terrador said angered that dragons who nearly killed his daughter were no longer in their cell.

Cynder felt a slight sliver of terror ping against her heart when she heard this, but instantly returned focus on the conversation. Despite the promise she made to Ember, Cynder felt too intrigued in what her father and Ignitus were talking about to just walk away just yet.

"Well why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you be out there looking for them?" asked Ignitus slightly irritated from the disturbing news he just heard.

"I just want you to keep an eye on Ember just in case. If they did escape, then I don't want anything to happen to either of our children,"

"Are you saying that I should panic over this?" accused Ignitus.

Terrador shook his head. "Not at all, I just wanted to warn you. If you see them make sure Ember is safe, alright?"

Cynder figured that there conversation was coming to an end so she stopped listening to the two and quickly left. But the thought of the rouge dragons being free looking for her or Ember haunted her thoughts. Thoughts such as where could they be, if they are attacked will she run away yet again, why are they after them? She was so focused on her pondering that she forgot that she was still using her shadow element to sneak around. Just when she started to focus on other things, she noticed that she was nearly about to bump into some one.

Quickly Cynder jumped to the side, and let the dragon pass. But that is when she noticed that the dragon walking by was Spyro, but something was strange about him. Unlike everyone else, he didn't have some sort of shadowy mist around his body. Cynder watched him confused and curious about what made him different from everyone else. She made a mental note to look into what the mist could possibly be later.

Suddenly Spyro stopped walking and she froze to keep from making noise "Alright come on out, I know your there," Cynder was speechless. How could he have notice her? Did he see the circle of darkness running around? Figuring that she didn't have a reason to hide, she began to reappear from the ground.

Before Cynder could ask him how he knew she was there, he said in an almost panic tone, "Were you following me?"

Cynder looked at the red dragon questionably before saying "No, I was ease dropping on a conversation my father was having, and on my way back I nearly bumped into you. How did you know I was around?"

Spyro didn't respond right away, but she noticed that for a second he had a look of relief in his eyes. "I used to know a shadow dragon who taught me… a … thing or two," said Spyro slowly as he began to stare at Cynder intensely. Cynder stepped back a little, disturbed by the look he was giving her, almost as if he was analyzing her.

"What are you doing?" she asked concerned.

Her question seemed snap him out of whatever he was thinking as he stopped looking directly at her. "What? Oh sorry, is just that you remind me about someone I knew a long time ago," he said as a slight depressing look formed upon his face. Cynder marveled at him slightly, was that angst in his eyes? It seemed to edge at her that he even possessed such a look.

"What happened to them?" Cynder asked wanting to know a little more about the red dragon before her.

Spyro however didn't answer her and remained quiet for the next few moments before changing the subject all together.

"So how are you and Ember doing?"

Cynder was taken back by the sudden change in topic, and it took her a second to figure out what he was talking about. "Oh uh, yeah I'm fine and so is Ember minus the small bump on her head,"

"And that blue dragon, I think his name was Emory? What about him?" Spyro asked slightly concerned.

"I wouldn't know, I haven't checked up on him,"

Spyro seemed to be confused by this answer as he then asked "I thought you were friends with him?"

"What?!" Cynder said shocked to hear such a thing. "No I am not friends with him, he is more of a bother than anything else. He keeps on asking me out despite my actual consent," Cynder stated. This caused Spyro to chuckle slightly and he spoke again.

"Well I won't tell you who you should be friends with but you should at least thank the guy for trying. I mean do you truly think that he would get himself hurt if he wasn't concerned for you or Ember?"

Cynder was speechless. Yes she never liked Emory all that much but she never really thought of Emory of being a kind person. She instantly felt bad for treating him so poorly all this time. If anything it was partially her fault that he was in the hospital in the first place.

"Yeah… I guess you're right," she said with a sadden look on her face. Just then Cynder felt a small weight being placed upon her back. Looking up she saw that Spyro draped a wing over her.

"Listen," Spyro said sternly. "As my father once told me, you should never brew over the past, but instead learn from it,"

Cynder managed to break a smile through her sad state when she heard this. "I suppose you are right. Thank you Spyro," she said, to which Spyro merely nodded his head and removed his wing off her back. Without saying another word, Spyro began to walk away. It was then that a question popped into Cynder's mind. "Hey Spyro, wait a moment," Spyro was hesitant but turned his head to face her, waiting for her to say something. Noticing this Cynder asked "Why are you here? I don't mean to sound rude, but is there someone you're here to see?"

Spyro didn't take long to respond to the question. "No not really. I'm just walking around and seeing who I might bump into," he said, though Cynder felt the lack of trust, the obvious struggle in his head as the lie lofted from him. He was hiding something.

She got an urge to know more about the dragon before her, so she asked "Mind if I join you?"

Spyro was rather surprised to hear Cynder ask such a thing. For just a second, Cynder noticed a hint of panic in his eyes, before he shook his head removing whatever thoughts were on his mind.

"No I wouldn't mind," he said calmly before stretching out a wing, pointing down the hallway. "After you,"

With a nod of her head, Cynder began to walk down the corridor alongside the red dragon. Out of the corner of her eyes, Cynder studied him the best she could, watching to see if he would do anything out of the ordinary. Not much to her surprise, he didn't do anything that any other dragon would do when walking quietly. _'What am I doing?' Cynder thought to herself. 'Just because he acts strangely a few times doesn't mean he is hiding something,'_

Peering back at him, she took notice of the amulet that sat around his neck. She stared at the black jewel that was held tightly around the metal surrounding it. Then she felt the back of her mind itch, and there was a strange sensation that she felt as she continued to look at it. She felt as if it was pulling her towards it, even calling out to her.

"What are you doing?" asked Spyro breaking Cynder of her thoughts, and snapping her back into reality. It was then that she noticed that she was leaning towards him. The scales on her face turned a lighter shade of black, indicating a blush forming.

"S-sorry," she said nervously. "I'm not sure what came over me," Spyro only looked at her with a raised brow and a look of worried on his face. The two quickly fell into an awkward silence. Spyro didn't seem too bothered by it or at least he didn't show any physical signs of being bothered by it; however Cynder found the loss of words to be unnerving. Wanting the stop the silence, Cynder dug through her brain to think of any kind of question to ask.

"So uh Spyro… why did you want my father to train you so badly?" Cynder asked bluntly.

Once again Spyro took his time to respond and his face remained still and emotionless as he pondered over her question.

"I want to join the army here," Spyro said, surprising Cynder.

"Really now, may I ask why?" she asked, still surprised to hear him say such a thing.

"Well… it was my father who got me into the idea of joining," he said slightly nervous.

Cynder stared at him in confusion. "But why not just go to one of the enlistment buildings and join that way?"

Turning his head to look back at her, Spyro said "Well from what I have been told, Terrador is one of if not the best and strongest dragons in the Warfang army, so why not try to learn from the best of the best?"

Cynder felt rather flattered that Spyro would speak so kindly about her father. "Well that is...very nice of you to say," Cynder noticed her kindness to him and it felt odd, it was very unlike her to speak so lightly. Cynder took a pause as an idea formed in her head. "And you did save both me and my friend from those goons, I suppose I could put in a good word for you?"

Spyro was surprised at her words. "Really you would do that?" she felt accomplished as his excitement and still struggled with herself to find a reason as to why.

"I supposed, after all it's the least I could do," Cynder said with a shrug and out of the corner of her eyes she saw a grin form on Spyro's muzzle.

"Well thanks a lot Cynder, you would be a big help if you did that," Spyro said still grinning. "Now then I wanted to ask yo…"

"Shhhh," hushed Cynder as she placed a paw over his mouth to quiet him before shoving him up against the wall. Spyro nearly retaliated to this, but then he saw an adult dragon Zealot walk pass them. He noticed that Cynder was making gestures with her head towards the white cladded dragon as it walked by. When it turned a corner, Cynder removed her paw away from him.

"What the hell was that for?" Spyro asked still mad at what happened.

"You mean you don't know?" asked Cynder confused.

"In case you didn't notice when I was announced as a new student in your school, I'm not really from around here," Spyro said bitterly to the black dragoness and she frowned slightly.

"Still aren't there other cities that are influenced by Relconem?" asked Cynder.

"Not where I am from no," he said bluntly, the anger slowly draining from his system. "I mean when I came here, I heard that people avoid those masked dragons, but I never understood why,"

"I have never heard a place that didn't have Relconem," Cynder responded. "You must be from really far away then,"

"You have no idea," mumbled Spyro.

"Well I guess I should explain to you then. First I have to ask, do you know why they wear masks, and a white cloak to cover their bodies?" Spyro only shook his head in response. "Well you see they wear the mask and cloak to remove all distractions from the outside world, from sunlight to most noise around them," Cynder stated.

"I don't understand, why would they want that?" Spyro asked still confused.

"You see the Relconem is a religious group of dragons ranging from all ages. There peruse is to communicate with the ancestors, and the way they do that is by meditating," Cynder said before pausing to make sure Spyro was still understanding what she was saying. She noticed that he still had a confused look on his face so she continued. "From what I have been told when they meditate part of their soul leaves there body and is taken to a place called the White Isle,"

"And that's where the ancestors are?" Spyro asked trying to understand what he was being told.

"No it is not, that is the home of the Chronicler," Cynder said.

"But I thought you said they are trying to communicate with the ancestors?" Spyro said even more confused than before.

"Yes they do try to communicate with the ancestors, but to do so would mean that, that dragon would be completely at peace with once self. If they are even slightly distracted by something they are taken to the White Isle instead. Now just getting to the White Isle is a difficult task on its own so I would presume that it's nearly impossible to be at complete peace with one's self,"

"Alright that makes some sense, but I still don't fully understand a few things," Spyro said, wanting to know a bit more about them.

"I am not done explaining just yet. Now like I said it is very difficult to keep the concentration to do this sort of thing, which is why here in Warfang if you see a Zealot walking around then you must get out of the way, and stay quiet. The reason for that is because while that part of their soul is gone from there body, there body will sometimes move around on its own free will. Does that make sense?"

Spyro thought over the information she told him before asking "for the most part it does, but I have to ask, what is the purpose of speaking to the ancestors?"

"From what I have been told, the ancestors have been known to bring enlightenment to those few who can manage to speak to them. While those how only make it to the White Isle are still told information, its mostly very vague and unhelpful to those who hear it. Or at least that is what I have been told," Cynder said finally finishing explaining to Spyro about the Zealots.

"Alright then, I think I understand now. Thank you Cynder for explaining," Spyro said with a smile.

"You are quite welcome," Cynder said as she smiled back.

"Say you never answered my question, why are you here?" Spyro quickly asked.

All color suddenly drained from Cynder's face. She had completely forgotten about Ember when she nearly bumped into Spyro. "Crap, look sorry but I have to go, I promised Ember that I wouldn't be gone to long," Cynder said in a slight panic voice as she began to back away from Spyro. Before he could say anything to her, Cynder turned around and ran back towards the room Ember was kept in.

She ran as fast as she could, dodging everyone and everything that got in her way and soon she found herself outside the room Ember sat in. Slightly out of breath, Cynder walked in.

"Where were you?" asked Ember in worry as she walked closer to her.

"Sorry Ember I got distracted by some things," Cynder responded slightly embarrassed.

"It's alright, I guess just don't make me worry like that again," Ember said in a serious tone. "Now come on tell me what you heard,"

Cynder nodded her head, and began to tell Ember what she learned.

**Alright then, I do hope you all enjoyed the new chapter to this story. As always, I would love to hear any theories you guys might have regarding what is going on in this story. I also would like to give a huge thanks to my temporally co-author Nevesrulesall, for his help on this chapter. I don't think I couldn't have done it without his help, and for that I am very grateful. I'm not sure how long it will take to post the next chapter, but I will try to get it out as soon as possible. Take care everyone.**


End file.
